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Artists’ Advance: Decreased Upper Alpha Power while Drawing in Artists Compared with Non-Artists

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Abstract

Brain mechanisms associated with artistic talents or skills are still not well understood. This exploratory study investigated differences in brain activity of artists and non-artists while drawing previously presented perspective line-drawings from memory and completing other drawing-related tasks. Electroencephalography (EEG) data were analyzed for power in the frequency domain by means of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Low Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) was applied to localize emerging significances. During drawing and related tasks, decreased power was seen in artists compared to non-artists mainly in upper alpha frequency ranges. Decreased alpha power is often associated with an increase in cognitive functioning and may reflect enhanced semantic memory performance and object recognition processes in artists. These assumptions are supported by the behavioral data assessed in this study and complement previous findings showing increased parietal activations in non-artists compared to artists while drawing. However, due to the exploratory nature of the analysis, additional confirmatory studies will be needed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project “Short-term and long-term plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex”) as part of the NCCR (National Center of Competence in Research “Neural plasticity and repair”) grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrophysiology Section, Department of Psychiatric Neurophysiology, Psychiatric University Hospital Bern, Bolligenstrasse 111, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland

    Mara Kottlow

  2. Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (CNBS), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Elke Praeg

  3. Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Christine Luethy & Lutz Jancke

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  1. Mara Kottlow
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  2. Elke Praeg
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  3. Christine Luethy
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  4. Lutz Jancke
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Correspondence to Mara Kottlow.

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Kottlow, M., Praeg, E., Luethy, C. et al. Artists’ Advance: Decreased Upper Alpha Power while Drawing in Artists Compared with Non-Artists. Brain Topogr 23, 392–402 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-010-0163-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-010-0163-9

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